Welcome

Dear Children, Parents and Carers,

I would like to extend a warm and virtual welcome to Heybridge Primary School.

It continues to be a challenging year for us all and our school has adapted to ensure that learning continues with lots of excitement whilst also remaining safe at all times.  Sadly, due to the current Covid restrictions, we are unable to welcome visitors into school in the manner we usually would or be able to offer face to face tours of the school for our new and prospective families.  

This makes things especially difficult for families who will soon be choosing the primary school for their children due to start in September 2021.  We are disappointed we cannot offer visits as we recognise the importance of you viewing as many schools as possible to help you make the right decision for your child.  However, the safety of the children, staff and school community is at the heart of our decision making and cannot be compromised, as I am sure you can understand.  

We are in the process of commissioning a new Virtual Tour of the school which we are anticipating will be on the website at the beginning of November (watch this space!).

We are confident that this will give you a flavour of the school and support you with your decision making.

If, after seeing the virtual tour, you wish to speak to me I am happy for you to contact the school office where we can organise an online meeting to discuss any questions you may have.  

In the meantime I have shared some of the reasons why I strongly believe that Heybridge Primary School should be the first choice for all parents.  

During our most recent Ofsted Inspection we received a solid ‘Good’ grading with aspirations to be an Outstanding school.  Our children deserve nothing less.  The school has travelled a remarkable distance and will only be satisfied when it is outrightly outstanding in every area.  

Heybridge Primary School was ranked as one of the top ten best performing primary schools in Essex in 2017-18 and 2018-19.  Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all formal testing was cancelled this year and as a result there will be no league tables for 2019-20.  

For any parents and carers of reception age children considering Heybridge Primary School for September 2021 I have included some additional points below.  

We are a two form entry primary school with a published admissions number (PAN) of 60.  This means we can take up to 30 children in each of our two reception classes.

Our Early Years Team are experienced and highly skilled.  We ensure that we have five adults in Early Years to support all the needs of all of our children.  

We have introduced a new phonics and reading scheme of work called ‘Read, Write, Inc’ this year that will take our already strong practice and make it even better.  This will link with the reading books and phonics we send home and support you working with your children.

We are committed to working with and developing strong relationships with all of our parents and carers.  We have previously offered home visits prior to your children starting school so that we can start getting to know them (and you) as early as possible to help make the transition into primary school as smooth as possible.  This year we had to be creative and used Zoom meetings to achieve this whilst keeping everyone safe!  

Alongside this we have introduced a programme called ‘Tapestry’ to monitor and record your children’s successes and be able to share these with you online in a safe and secure manner.  

The behaviour and attitudes of our children towards their learning is already very strong and has been exceptional since their return.

We are part of The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT) and this means we are strongly supported and challenged by an excellent Academy Team whose mantra is ‘Inspiring Learners, Changing Lives’.  

I have always believed that children deserve the best possible education we can provide.  My team here shares this belief.  I have proudly spent the past five years working with wonderful children, families and passionate staff to establish a very ‘Good’ school.  I look forward to working with you to push the school even further forward to Outstanding.

I hope the website, current online tour and the new updated virtual tour (coming soon) provides you with a flavour of who we are and what we are about.

Simon Waltham

Headteacher